In the month of November, I’m meditating on my gratitude for something different each day.

Sometimes I take for granted how amazing the innovations around me are. Eva and I asked some friends to send video clips of themselves saying a phrase in different languages. We received 30 video clips from around the world shot on webcams, iPhones, and digital cameras, sometimes within minutes of asking. Within a hours, with no video editing experience, we were able to throw those clips together and even add some accompanying music courtesy of creative commons licensing. A few years ago that would have never been possible, at least not with such efficiency.

Let me break it down: You can turn your phone around, record a video, and beam it across the world. It’s like the Jetsons! How marvelous! (For real, marvel at it people.)

This website is built on wordpress, which is open-source software. My car can talk to me and I to it. I can stream any music I want on my phone, anywhere in the world without interruption, courtesy of Spotify. I work without an office with my laptop or smartphone; and because of social media and code libraries available on the web, I have a job.

There is so much awesome stuff being built to make our lives easier. It’s unreal.

I’m unbelievably blessed to have access to all these technologies. So, today I thank all the engineers, developers, designers, dreamers, and anyone who makes their work possible, because without them, you wouldn’t even be reading this.